Coca-Cola Starts PET Recycling Programme on Green Day

Lack of adequate waste management is a massive, visible problem that is around for all to see. While it is commendable that the National Green Tribunal of India has banned disposable plastic in India, there is a lot more to be done to resolve the issue. When one looks up recyclable plastic waste, some startling facts emerge. India is the second highest consumer of PET bottles. If India does not manage its plastic waste, in a decade it will be among the top five contributors of marine pollution, according to Hindustan Times.

Coca-Cola India realised that recyclable as they are, a major chunk of these PET bottles are left lying in junkyards waiting to get recycled, eventually harming the environment. Not to forget that recycling can also help reduce the number of PET bottles that end up as litter on roadways and in water sources. Recent research also indicates that after 15 years, PET bottles start undergoing degradation in the marine environment.

Having identified the above mentioned issues, Coca-Cola India decided to commemorate World Environment Day 2014 by taking up the cause of recycling PET bottles. Their aim was to make the country PET-neutral thereby eliminating the chance of reusable waste piling up.

With unequalled fervour, Coca-Cola employees participated in awareness generation activities focusing on PET recycling from 24th May to 5th June 2014. Coca-Cola got the local communities to ensure sustainable collection and PET bottle recycling in the area, after teaming up with Brindavan Bottlers Pvt. Ltd, Coca-Cola India’s bottling arm in Uttar Pradesh.

This initiative helped ensure that a large number of PET bottles, which would have otherwise literally made their way to our doorsteps, ended up at their rightful destination. At recycling centres, these bottles were able to be converted into many more useful things for society, along with the sight of a cleaner neighbourhood for our children.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola system in India is comprised of Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd. (CCIPL), the concentrate manufacturing entity and 15 authorised bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), which are responsible for the production of ready-to-drink, non-alcoholic beverages under the Trademarks of TCCC, their distribution and sale in the territory of India. The system also comprises the India branch office of Coca-Cola India Inc., which provides guidance in relation to development of business in India.